Friday, March 20, 2015

In 1984, Scottish rock band Simple Minds released their sixth studio album which became the band's commercial breakthrough, especially in their home country where it his #1 on the album charts and went double-platinum. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of this landmark album for the band, Universal Music Group is releasing a 2CD Deluxe Edition and a 4CD Super Deluxe Edition of the album.

The original ten-song album was re-mastered at Abby Road Studios by Andrew Walters and gives the album the absolute best sound its ever had. Songs like "Waterfront" and "Up On The Catwalk" were new creative peaks for the band as they continued their pop success for ten more years. Fans will want the 4CD set for the bonus discs, including a previously unreleased concert from the band's hometown of Glasgow, recorded on February 28th, 1984.

The second disc in the set includes a collection of rare B-sides, many making their debut on compact disc. The much sought-after 12" remix of "Waterfront" is one of the highlights of the disc, along with a live version of "Hunter And The Hunted" and a seven-minute remix of "Speed You Love To Me." These releases fully capture the excess of the eighties with its dance beats and drawn out dance instrumentals.

Discs three and four contain the entire 1984 concert as you can fully appreciate Simple Minds' live show at the band's creative mid-eighties peak. The eight-minute opener, "Waterfront" begins to work the crowd up, before diving into "Glittering Prize" and "King Is White And In The Crowd," from their previous album. The third disc closes with the steady build up of "Someone Somewhere In Summertime." Disc four continues the show with the pinnacle coming in the form of the twelve-minute "New Gold Dream," which includes parts of Talking Heads' "Take Me To The River" and The Doors' "Light My Fire" within its jam. The set closes with three songs recorded during a 1983 radio session of BBC Radio 1 to promote the upcoming release of "Sparkle In The Rain." To find out more about this new release, please visit simpleminds.com.This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the iconic 80's movie, "The Breakfast Club." The movie made stars of the young actors Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson and Molly Ringwald to name a few, who collectively became known as the "brat pack." Almost as great and memorable as the movie, was the soundtrack, featuring the #1 single "Don't You (Forget About Me)." The album itself reached #17 on the album charts as the ten song album fully captured the vibe of electronic music in the eighties. Other than the lead single from Simple Minds, not much else came from the soundtrack, even with the addition of fellow eighties superstars Wang Chung. To celebrate, Universal Pictures will be re-releasing the film in theaters for two days only on March 26th and March 31st. A newly restored blu-ray of the movie was released on March 10, along with a white vinyl edition of the soundtrack. To find out more about the theater screenings of the movie, please visit breakfastclub30.com to celebrate the 30th anniversary of this once again iconic movie.